Services & Procedures

Cardiac Emergencies

Cardiovascular emergencies are life-threatening disorders that must be diagnosed quickly to avoid delay in treatment and to minimize morbidity and mortality. Patients may present with severe hypertension, chest pain, dysrhythmia or cardiopulmonary arrest. CARE Hospitals has a state-of-the-art coronary care unit, supervised by specially trained intensive care unit (ICU) doctors and caregivers. Our cardiologists offer the following services round-the-clock:

Primary coronary angioplasty (angioplasty performed during a heart attack)

Stent implantation

Peripheral angiography and angioplasty

Interventional Cardiology

The interventional cardiologists at CARE Hospitals are well experienced in treating complex coronary and structural heart diseases. The Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory is one of the top in the country and our doctors are leaders in this technology. The state-of-the-art procedures and services offered include high-risk unprotected left main coronary artery stenting, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, paravalvular leak closure and hybrid procedures.

Our interdisciplinary team of interventional cardiologists, along with renowned echocardiographers and dedicated heart failure specialists, work closely to assess the optimal treatment options for patients with complex heart disease.

Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery

CARE Hospitals has one of the largest, most experienced cardiac surgery teams in the country. Cardiothoracic surgery refers to the treatment of diseases affecting the organs inside the chest (thorax), including conditions of the heart and lungs. The Center for Cardiothoracic Surgery is a Center of Excellence, which performs virtually every type of heart surgery and attracts thousands of patients from India and across the world. The Institute of Cardiac Sciences specializes in closed and open heart surgery, beating heart surgery and valve replacement. With a transplant theater and well-equipped ICUs, CARE Hospitals has been consistently ensuring excellent outcomes.

CARE Hospitals also has advanced facilities for heart transplantation for patients with damaged hearts, who have stopped responding to medicines.

Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG)

Coronary bypass surgery is one of the options to treat heart disease. The coronary artery bypass graft is a procedure that restores the blood flow to the heart muscle, by diverting the flow of blood around a section of a blocked artery in the heart. In coronary bypass surgery, a healthy blood vessel is taken from the leg, arm, chest or abdomen and connected to the other arteries in the heart so that the blood is bypassed around the diseased or blocked area. After a coronary bypass surgery, blood flow to the heart improves.

Coronary bypass surgery improves symptoms such as chest pain and shortness of breath, due to poor blood flow to the heart. In some situations, coronary bypass surgery may improve the heart function and reduce the risk of death due to heart disease.

Beating Heart Surgery

In a beating heart surgery, a procedure is performed without stopping the heart. Surgeons use a special device to stabilize that part of the heart on which they are operating. The heart continues to beat and circulate blood to the heart muscle during the operation. Surgery on a beating heart offers reduced risk of complications, normally associated with stopping the heart temporarily during surgery.

Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery

A minimally invasive heart surgery is performed through small incisions in the right side of the chest, as an alternative to open heart surgery. Our surgeons operate between the ribs and don't split the breastbone, which offers reduced pain and quicker recovery for most people. In minimally invasive surgery, the heart surgeon has a better view of some parts of the heart than in open heart surgery. As in open surgery, minimally invasive heart surgery requires stopping the heart temporarily and diverting blood flow from the heart using a heart-lung machine.

Thoracic Surgery

Our thoracic surgeons perform extensive and challenging thoracic procedures (lung, esophagus, etc.) with excellent outcomes. These include operations for removal of malignancies from the lung and the esophagus. The procedures performed include minimally invasive procedures on the lung and esophagus, as well as Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS).

Heart Transplants

The Institute of Cardiac Sciences at CARE Hospitals has developed a customized approach to treat congestive heart failure to improve the quality of life and lower mortality rates. Using an aggressive medical approach, the program also stresses upon intensive education and lifestyle counseling.

A heart transplantation is a modern-day miracle of medical science. Very few centers across the world perform this surgery. Visakhapatnam is the 6th city in India to perform this surgical procedure.

The Institute of Cardiac Sciences has a complete transplant team with:

Transplant surgeons

Transplant cardiologists

Intensivists & critical care specialists

Pulmonologists

Infectious disease consultants

Immunologists

Pathologists

Transplant coordinators

Trained staff nurses

Heart Valve Surgery

Heart valve surgery is done to replace or repair heart valves that are not working correctly. Most valve replacements involve the aortic and mitral valves. The aortic valve separates the left ventricle (the heart’s main pumping chamber) and the aorta (the major artery that carries blood to the body). The mitral valve separates the left atrium from the left ventricle.

Nuclear Cardiology

The Nuclear Cardiology Division at CARE Hospitals uses non-invasive techniques to assess myocardial blood flow, evaluate the pumping function of the heart and visualize the size and location of the heart attack.

Myocardial Perfusion Imaging

Myocardial perfusion images are combined with exercise to assess the blood flow to the heart muscle. The exercise mode for this is usually walking on the treadmill. A "chemical" of "pharmacological" stress test using the drug dipyridamole, adenosine or dobutamine is performed in patients who are not able to exercise maximally, providing similar information about the heart's blood flow.

A small amount of an imaging agent or thallium is injected into the blood stream during rest and during exercise or chemical stress. A scanning device (gamma camera) is used to measure the uptake of the imaging material by the heart during stress and at rest. If there is significant blockage of a coronary artery, the heart muscle may not get enough blood supply, while performing the exercise or during chemical stress. This decrease in blood flow will be detected by the images.

Myocardial perfusion helps in identifying areas of the heart muscle that have inadequate blood supply, as well as those areas that are scarred due to a heart attack. In addition to the localization of the coronary artery with atherosclerosis, myocardial perfusion quantifies the extent of the heart muscle that has limited blood flow and also provides information about the pumping function of the heart.

Pediatric Cardiology

The Division of Pediatric Cardiology has achieved extraordinary success in diagnosing and treating the most difficult and complex cardiac conditions in fetuses, children and young adults. The division is globally recognized for its pioneering approach to the science and clinical care of patients with cardiovascular diseases. The division also cares for newborns with congenital heart disorders, providing support and education to their parents.

Preventive Heart Care

(More information on health packages available in each hospital’s section)

Electrophysiology

Electrophysiology is a field of cardiology which deals with the electrical systems of the heart and its abnormalities, such as variations in heart rate and rhythm. It covers patients with palpitations, fast or slow heart beating pulses and episodes of blackout — which place patients at a high risk of sudden cardiac arrest. Treatment is planned on the basis of an electrophysiological (EP) study and radio frequency (RF) ablation pacemaker and ICD (defibrillator implantation).

An electrophysiology study is a specialized procedure conducted by a trained cardiac specialist, called an electrophysiologist. In the procedure, one or more thin, flexible wires, called catheters are inserted into a blood vessel (usually the groin) and guided into the heart. Each catheter has two or more electrodes to measure the heart’s electrical signals as they travel from one chamber to another.

EP studies are done to diagnose cardiac rhythm abnormality to help determine the best treatment and to pinpoint the site where therapy may be useful.

The CARE Hospitals’ Division of Electrophysiology, with its highly skilled team and advanced technology, is a one-stop centre for the treatment of arrhythmias. The team has enormous experience in all types of electrophysiology studies, radio frequency ablations, pacemaker implantation, other devices implantations and resynchronization therapy.

Cardiac Imaging

CARE Hospitals’ Cardiac Imaging Centre is a state-of-the-art facility where cardiac imaging specialists from radiology and cardiology work together to provide patients the most accurate and appropriate diagnostic medical imaging services. The Cardiac Imaging Center offers thorough and advanced imaging services. CARE Hospitals was the first hospital in the country to perform a cardiac MRI.

Cardiac Rehabilitation

The Cardiac Rehabilitation Department at CARE Hospitals offers a professionally supervised program to help patients recover from heart attacks, heart surgery and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures, such as stenting and angioplasty. The Cardiac Rehabilitation Department provides education and counseling services to help heart patients increase physical fitness, reduce cardiac symptoms, improve general health and reduce the risk of future heart problems, including a heart attack.

Cardiac rehabilitation is beneficial for anyone who has a history of:

Heart attack

Coronary artery disease

Heart failure

Peripheral arterial disease

Chest pain (angina)

Cardiomyopathy

Certain congenital heart diseases

Coronary artery bypass surgery

Angioplasty and stents

Heart transplant

Heart valve replacements

People of all ages with heart conditions can benefit from cardiac rehabilitation.